Articles and comments by Fadi Zanayed, a Moderate Palestinian, about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Human Spirit should drive US Foreign
Policy

American
foreign policy is hypocritical. It needs
to change.

American
foreign policy has been based on the proposition that America will do anything
as long as it is in the national security interest of America. This is a wrong and abused foreign policy
that only leads to hypocrisy.

If
one country can invade another country based on its perceived notion of
national security, then why can’t every country use the same national security
argument to do whatever it thinks it should in the world?

In the past 40
years America has invaded country after country. In 1983 America went into Granada at will; in
1989 the US went into Panama to capture its President Manuel Noriega from
his home; in 1990 US led coalition invaded Iraq during the first Gulf War; in
2001 the US invaded Afghanistan after 9/11; and then in 2003 the US reinvaded
Iraq again. All this, we are told, was
done in the national security interest of the US. Before the last invasion of Iraq, President
George W. Bush administration told the world at the United Nations that Iraq
was stock piling weapons of mass destructions--which were never found.

Also in the last
40 years, the US opposed the 1980 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union; opposed
the Libyan incursions into its neighbor Chad during the 1980s; and in 1989 opposed
the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq.

The hypocrisy is
that the US allows itself to use the national security argument for its own
specific needs but opposes that same argument to be used by any other country
except Apartheid Israel. The obvious
flaw in a foreign policy that is based on the national security argument is
that every other nation can also use the same argument to the detriment of
world peace. Why couldn’t the Soviet
Union invade Afghanistan to protect its own national security interest? Why couldn’t Iraq occupy Kuwait for its own
national security interest? Why can’t
Israel continue the occupation of Palestinian land?

It is obvious
that these questions leads to one to believe that US opposition to “other
countries” national security concerns are flawed and are selective. It is not right for Iraq to occupy Kuwait but
it is right for Apartheid Israel to occupy Palestine. This inconsistency is seen by world public
opinion as hypocrisy and as a suppression of the human spirit. Then the US wonders why the people of the
Middle East oppose US foreign policy.

Consistent with
its inconsistent foreign policy, the US does not understand the Arab Spring revolutions
sweeping the Arab world. For decades,
America has supported dictators, military leaders, juntas, presidents-for-life,
kings and ruthless thugs who suppress the human spirit to be free.

America
supported Ferdinand Marcos until the human spirit of the people of the
Philippines overthrew him.

America
supported the Shaw of Iran until the human spirit of the people of Iran
overthrew him and everything associated with the West and the US.

America supported
the dictator Hosni Mubarak until the human spirit of the Egyptian people forced
him out of power.

America looked the
other way at the atrocities committed in Libya after Muammar Gaddafi renounced
Tripoli's weapons of mass destruction programs and welcomed international
inspections to verify that he would follow through on the commitment.

America continues
to ignore the human spirit that yearns to be free. America has forgotten its own human spirit
during the American Revolution. While
Americans espouse the essence of what it means to be free, they fail to
understand that this human spirit is in all mankind.

Palestinians
have that same human spirit to be free. Yet
despite President Obama’s statement that it is in US national security
interests to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine, the US cannot get its “staunch
ally” to stop the building settlements that succeeding US administrations have
stated are “obstacles to peace.”

Again, this
inconsistency hurts US interests in the Middle East.

Foreign policy
should be based on the human spirit to be free not on national security. When America advocates the right of the human
spirit to be free anywhere on the earth, America’s foreign policy becomes
consistent. Consequently, a free human
spirit would naturally seek a democratic form of government. Having democratic forms of governments is in
the national security of the US.

About Me

Fadi Zanayed is an author, poet, community activist and an attorney since 1985. A graduate from Loyola University with a B.S. in Managerial Accounting and a minor in Political Science in 1983, he received his law degree from Loyola School of Law in 1985. A Palestinian American whose family originates from Ramallah, Palestine, Fadi Zanayed is an active and proud member of the Arab American community with a long history of community leadership and service. They include: Founding Member of Arab-American Bar Association of Illinois, Inc.; Former Regional Director & Past President, Chicago Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; Past President of the Chicago Chapter of the Palestinian American Congress; Past National Secretary of the Palestinian American Congress; Past President of the Chicago Club of Ramallah, Palestine; Past Member of the Board of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine; Past President of the American Youth Federation of Ramallah, Palestine. He is the author of Cycle of Frustration: A collection of poems about Palestine; and Betrayal, Sorrow and Tomorrow (pen name: Chris F. Wollinks).